The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-26
HOTEL PENSIONERS.
Many and Curious Charities Dispensed
by Hotel Men in New York.

Many and Curious Charities Dispensed
by Hotel Men in New York
From the Ner York Erening sun
There goes one of them, - said Clerk Hord
of the Victoria Hotel
lie pointed TO neatly dressed and gen.
tlemanly appearing man who was climbing
up the first fight of stairs from the office.
de had been talking about the charities
dispensed by hotels. and had remarked
that few people had any idea of the
amount given away by hotel proprietors
every day.
~ don't believe there's a hotel In New
York which does not daily feed a great
many poor families. Naturally there is
good deal OF waste, especially where hotels
are run on the American plan at SO much
day, ard there could be no better way of dis
posing of the surplus. Every morning at
the back kitchen door of the Victoria you
will find a score or more of poor people wait
ing for their dole. The same sight can be
seen at all the other hotels.n
But about our friend who just went up
stairss What has he to do with this back
door business"
"Oh, that's a horse of another color. We
have three grades of charities. First there
are the poor people who make no disguise Of
their poverty and go direct to the kitchen
door. Then we have the semi respectable
element that come to the counter and ask
for something to eat. If they look shabby
as they generally do, we refer them to the
kitchen, where the servants eat, and they
get good meal But they can't get Il
every day. We keep tally on the faces of
these fellows, and when they try to become
chronic we choke them off. The third class
is the most interesting. 1t is eminently
genteel, like the man you saw climbing the
stairs TO the dining-room a few minutes
ago. For one reason or another man may
be stranded in q big town like this for days
at a time. He has no friends, and until re-
lief comes he is half desperate. Scarcely q
day passes when one of this class does not
come in here to the desk, tell his story, and
ask us to give him something to eat He is
well dressed. There is nothing in his ap-
pearance that would offend any of the guests
in the dining-room; which is a matter we
have to consider of course. We ask if he
has ever been here before. He says no. If
he was regular we should know him in a
minute, for we don't propose TO run a cara
vansary for beats or tramps. Then, in
order to make him feel the embarrassment
of his position as little as possible, we give
him a note to present to the head waiter
when he enters the dinng-room, and he is
treated with just the same courtesy as one
of the regular guests.
ado YOU know it is funny thing, but we
have entertained many an angel unawares
in this way Not great while ago a very
impressive looking man came to TIE desk,
and, saying he was in bad luck and a per
feet stranger in the city, asked us TO give
him breakfast. He said he had just landed
from Australia, and was awaiting a remit
lance from England Wen, we took no
stock in that part Of his story, but he got
the breakfast all the same, and he was most
profuse in his thanks 1t must have been
nearly a month before we saw him again.
Then he entered the hotel very modesty, re-
cognized the clerk who had befriended him,
and asked for suite of rooms on the parlor
floor. At the same time he asked the clerk
to take care of about 200, mostly in Eng
lish money 1t turned out that he was the
Young son of an English Lord, who had
been trotting around the globe and had
simply missed connections when he reached
New York. He was with us for three months
and before he left had knocked large hole
in that $4,000.
II could mention great many other in
stances where our charity patients have
turned up tramps. That's pure luck. We
never think of il when we oblige them, but
we naturally get the benefit il their ship
comes i'm
"You will never find such charities dis
pensed," said Clerk Wall, of the Hoffman,
Eat hotels where all the dining is done la
carte, as it is here. Whatever charities we
have to give are bestowed outright in
| money. You can see at glance chat where
every meal is cooked TO order there can't
be the waste there would be in hotel run
on the American plan, at so much a day,
where more or less waste is always to be
| found y